The next day.
Eren took the aptitude test again. As expected, with the belt Chen Si had given him, he passed easily.
"Not bad, Eren," Chen Si praised him.
Eren looked excitedly at Mikasa and Chen Si, shouting inwardly, I finally won't have to rely on you two anymore!
Keith Shadis took off Eren's belt and opened it up for a look. As though realizing something, he glanced at Chen Si and sighed inwardly.
Grisha, perhaps this boy really can carry your hopes. Keith looked at Eren, who was brimming with fighting spirit.
Patrick, who had connections, had used them to dodge the aptitude training yesterday, then insisted on making a big show of it.
Unsurprisingly, he fell flat on his face less than a second after being hoisted into the air. Everyone present started talking, their voices full of contempt.
Under their mocking gazes, Patrick was expelled from the Training Corps.
"Carla, your son has become a soldier. His future is destined to be extraordinary," Keith told the apron-clad cook before him, unable to bear the thought. The Survey Corps was destined to be a path riddled with death.
"No matter what happens, I'll always be proud of my child. Thank you, Keith." Carla smiled brightly.
Keith stared blankly at her, his tiny pupils widening a little. He couldn't help recalling the first time he had met Carla in the tavern, and the first time she had held Eren in her arms.
Noon, in the mess hall.
"Why is lunch so fancy today?" Connie asked as he wolfed down his food.
"It's so good! So good!" Sasha was so excited she lost all sense of herself and stuffed her bowl into her mouth.
Marco and Mikasa, sitting beside her, were both startled. Marco grabbed Sasha's cheeks, while Mikasa delivered a knife-hand strike straight to her back...
"Haven't you heard? Apparently, a beautiful cook came today. She's pretty, and her cooking is great too." Jean sounded delighted upon hearing she was a beauty.
"Huh?" Eren froze with his cheeks bulging. He had a vague suspicion. Stuffing a few more mouthfuls of food into his mouth, he dashed outside.
Chen Si wiped his mouth and followed him with Mikasa.
Sasha and Connie exchanged a glance, then quietly followed as well.
"Mom!" Eren spotted Carla's busy figure from far away.
"Eren!" Carla happily hugged him when she saw him.
Chen Si and Mikasa arrived shortly afterward.
"Chen Si, Mikasa, you're here too. Come on! I still have some left. Hurry and eat." Carla quickly beckoned them over.
"Mom, why are you here? How did you end up working as a cook?" Eren asked in confusion.
"I couldn't stop worrying while sitting at home, so I asked your instructor Shadis if I could come cook for you. He let me in," Carla said with a warm smile.
Keith, you really are the most devoted man alive, Chen Si mused. A job at a military camp was a secure livelihood that just anyone couldn't get. Shadis really had gone to great lengths.
"Mom!" "Ma'am!"
Two figures came running from afar, their eyes shining.
"What nonsense are you yelling?" Connie smacked Sasha on the forehead for calling out so wildly.
"Ow! Ma'am! We're Eren's good friends! There's some for us too, right?" Sasha cared about nothing besides food and pointed excitedly at the bowls.
Naturally, Carla agreed with a smile. From then on, every mealtime turned the kitchen entrance into a family reunion...
"Ah! Beautiful mother! Please give me some extra food!" Jean said with a look of deep affection.
"Hey! Jean! That's my mom! What are you trying to do?"
"Hey!! Sasha! You just got a serving, and you're back again!"
"Hey!!! Reiner! Even you..."
Chen Si doubled over laughing nearby, while Mikasa covered her mouth and chuckled softly.
Christa, standing off to the side, fluttered her large eyes and stole a glance at him. Chen Si seemed to sense it, but as soon as he turned around, Christa ducked back.
That little minx. Chen Si shook his head. Well, there's nothing I can do about being too charming. But I'm not a player. A harem and all that... that wouldn't be right, would it? I'm a young man of the new era, firmly committed to promoting core socialist values!
But it should be fine here, right? Right? Right!
Feelings weren't something you could control, after all. The person you liked might like someone else, while someone you didn't like might like you. You might have feelings for several people at once, or several people might have feelings for you. Exceptional people always had more choices.
As someone who had championed devoted romance in his previous life, Chen Si could only take things one step at a time.
After all, loving many was an ability; loving only one was a choice.
"Christa, what are you doing?" Mina suddenly appeared behind Christa and glanced at Chen Si and Mikasa.
"Ooh~" Mina smiled faintly, as though she had seen through everything.
"N-no... I came to help Auntie Carla!" Christa hurriedly explained. She really had been heading to the kitchen to help, but she had spotted Chen Si and lingered to look at him.
"I haven't even said anything yet." Mina covered her mouth and laughed.
Christa's face suddenly turned scarlet, and she frantically tried to explain.
Although Ymir wasn't around, Christa's considerate, helpful nature and angelic face made her arguably the most popular person in the Training Corps. She had still made plenty of friends.
Two and a half years later.
Year 850.
The cadets of the 104th class had all turned fourteen.
The Training Corps entered its final year of training, the most important year and the one with the heaviest workload.
"Ow!" Eren fell off his horse for who knew which time. His head and arms were covered in bandages.
Nearby, Mikasa finished riding a lap and dismounted.
"Well, well, if it isn't Eren. It's fine if you can't learn. You can always just follow behind me when the time comes." Jean rode past him, then sped away.
"Damn it! No way! If I fall behind in horsemanship, that bastard Jean will beat my score!" Stubborn as a mule, Eren naturally refused to give up.
"Huh? But hasn't Chen Si set off yet?" Eren asked in confusion.
"Fuck you! You damn horse, you won't listen, huh?" Chen Si's cursing came from the stables.
"Eren, sometimes my brother is just as stubborn as you." Mikasa sighed with a slight headache.
Actually, Chen Si could have mounted and set off long ago. Several docile horses were easy to ride, but he insisted on taking on the tallest, strongest one. Plenty of people had tried that horse, but since it wouldn't obey, they had stopped wasting their time.
"Si Chen! What are you doing? Why haven't you set off yet? Do you want to eat and sleep with these horses?" Keith Shadis's furious reprimand rang out.
Hearing that, Chen Si gritted his teeth. You forced my hand.
Blue light flared in Chen Si's eyes. He raised his arm and spread his five fingers toward the horse, continuously gathering power in his palm as electric arcs converged. His lips curled slightly. "You'd rather be a dead horse than a live one, so don't blame me. There's no filly I've set my sights on that I can't ride. If you won't let me ride you, then go die!"
The horse shuddered in terror at the lightning. It quickly lowered its head and bent its forelegs, making whimpering sounds as though pleading and inviting Chen Si to mount.
The lightning Chen Si had gathered gradually vanished. Panting heavily, he smiled brightly. "Good. Very good. An obedient filly is a good filly."
"From now on, I'll call you Grass Mud Horse." Chen Si affectionately stroked Grass Mud Horse's head.
Grass Mud Horse neighed as though displeased, but after a flash of electricity, he fell silent.
Chen Si had just mounted and was about to figure out how to ride.
Ding! Congratulations on riding a horse for the first time in another world. You have acquired Horseback Riding Mastery.
A female system voice he hadn't heard in ages rang out.
It had been so long that Chen Si actually jolted at the sound. Then he quickly recovered and spoke to the system in his mind:
System, you've been here all along? You've got quite a long shelf life for a single-use system. Your definition of single-use seems pretty different from ours. Chen Si waited a long while, but the system never answered.
Chen Si pursed his lips, but he was delighted inside. At least he wouldn't have to learn how to ride. He had just watched Eren fall flat on his face in all sorts of ways, and he couldn't take falls as well as a Titan.
With Horseback Riding Mastery, Chen Si immediately found riding as easy and familiar as playing a racing game.
The sound of Chen Si's galloping horse soon echoed throughout the riding grounds, and his fellow cadets looked over enviously.
"Did this guy already know how to ride?" Jean pursed his lips, feeling a little envious himself. He had only been moving along at a slow walk, and Mikasa's horse alone had been going at a brisk pace.
Seeing this, Mikasa relaxed at once. She flicked her whip and chased after him.
Eren gritted his teeth at the sight and mounted again. This time, he finally sat a little steadier and didn't fall off. Unbeknownst to him, the bump on his head was gradually shrinking.
Keith Shadis nodded in satisfaction at the sight, took out a little notebook, and added a note under Chen Si's entry: exceptionally gifted.
On the eve of graduation.
The final day of training.
"Arlert! You're falling behind! Is it too heavy for you? Do you need special permission to drop your equipment? If this were a real battlefield, you'd already be Titan feed!" Keith Shadis reprimanded Armin.
Then he cracked his whip and rode away, leaving one last remark:
"If you still can't keep up, report to the girls' dormitory tonight!"
"Damn it!" Armin gritted his teeth and persevered, but he still couldn't pick up his pace.
"Give it to me!" Reiner grabbed Armin's weighted pack and slung it onto his own back.
"But you'll lose points if you're caught," Armin said worriedly between gasps.
"Today's test counts toward our scores. Hurry and keep up before I change my mind," Reiner added.
Had Chen Si been there, he would definitely have snatched the pack away rather than let Reiner carry it. Wasn't this just helping the enemy build emotional ties?
Unfortunately, Chen Si wasn't on Armin's team.
Practical training with Vertical Maneuvering Equipment.
The instant Chen Si gripped the Vertical Maneuvering Equipment, that delightful voice rang out again:
Ding! Congratulations on using Vertical Maneuvering Equipment for the first time in another world. You have acquired Vertical Maneuvering Equipment Mastery.
This was extremely dangerous equipment. Every year, cadets suffered serious injuries or even died during this training.
"Wow, Captain Levi only took twenty-six seconds to get through this forest!" Cadets crowded around a Vertical Maneuvering Equipment training leaderboard.